[PB27-SPOILERS] Yup, it's HAK here...no idea what I might do this time...

[HitAnyKey]

So here's the scoop on what's going on with TheWannabe:


Not entirely sure what's going on with that Settler/WarChariot he has in the NW by the lake. They were on that tile last turn, and he ended this turn already without settling his city. Seems kind of odd.
West of Cholera, he is obviously roading westward for the Settler that just appeared this turn inside that city. I'm kind of hoping he's aiming for that PH directly north of Turley. It's the spot I wanted to settle my C6. Since I won't be able to stop him from settling a city in that area, I'm hopeful that at some point I can capture that city from him. And that's the spot I want it to be.
EDIT: Though while looking at this again, if he were going to settle on that hill he probably wouldn't have built a road there. So I have a feeling he's going to send the settler along the road to the next hill over...which will suck. Both because that spot marked next to the Stone would get invalidated and because he'd then be closer to my cities.

Down in the SE, his Axe/Spear vanished this turn into one of those two fog tiles by my Moai sign. The units had been wandering around that area and were last on the hill on the coast.
Turley just finished it's Axe, which I moved onto the Deer with the other Axe/Chariot. And I moved the Chariot I had inside Turley to that forest. This is so that next turn if his units haven't appeared again, I can pop the chariot out to have a look and then return. My guess is that he's wanting to try to slip a city in there before I can stop him. But I'm hopeful that with the Axe that will be coming out of Twisted Oak that and the Settler I'm going to 2-pop whip out of Corison on T79, that I'll either be able to scare away his Axe/Spear (or kill them) so that I can settle a city down there and have a couple units (using either the Archer or Holkan that are currently in Twisted Oak) for defense to start with. I had wanted to put off settling that spot for awhile longer (since this will cause me to settle it without it being hooked up for trade routes for at least a few turns), but with TW pushing this way with Settlers I need to try to get it first.

On T79 I'll also be 3-pop whipping the Settler out of Wellington, which will go to that C5 spot. I have an Archer already en-route, the Holkan there will protect the 2 workers (which just chopped the forest on the C5 tile) while they farm the Wheat, and the Holkan coming out of Corison will get to the city spot before the settler for protecting it until the Archer arrives a turn later. This is all assuming he doesn't do something crazy with that War Chariot, or have other military show up to cause me grief. But my Power has jumped quickly these past few turns, now being above Average at Rank #10 in Power. Now I just need to figure out a way to get a few more cities out, and workers to work these improvements and then chop forests once I have Math. Ugh, this has been brutal.

[HitAnyKey]

TW is really confusing me with whatever he's trying to do. That Settler/WC at the lake sat there AGAIN this turn without settling the city. Can't figure out what reason anyone would have for waiting so long to settle the city.
He now has his other settler on the hill with the worker that finished the road. So this coming turn, I expect he'll either settle the city or more the settler 1W to the next hill for putting the city closer to me. Which will be annoying because it'll invalidate the spot north of the Sheep against the lake.
He also moved his Axe/Spear back onto the hill 2S of Turley. But I at least have a couple axes and chariots there. So I can keep an Axe/Chariot on the Deer and also put an Axe/Chariot on the tile 1W of them which my worker will be moving to this coming turn to Cottage.

[HitAnyKey]

So he finally acted, and somewhat in the way I was expecting...


He settled both that northern city (finally, after having the settler sitting there for at least 3 turns) and Thebes this turn. And he snuck in another Settler that I somehow missed, which is currently on the tile with that Spear (along with a worker) north of the WC. So next turn he'll obviously move to the tile next to the Stone and the following turn settle a city. At least he's settling them in spots that I want cities in...just means I need to find some way to take them from him in the future.
I'll be settling at C5 spot next turn, so I'll have my city in that area a turn before he does. Hopefully I get a quick religion spread...unlike over at Turley which STILL hasn't gotten religion. Bastards!

The other settler needs to therefore head down to the SE to my Moai spot. His Axe/Spear finally seems to be leaving the area, but since I have an Archer, Holkan, a couple Axes, and a couple Chariots in that immediate area I wasn't all that concerned. That settler will drop down a city on T84. Sadly it'll be a slow Moai since TW beat me to the Stone spot. Yep, I screwed myself there.

I'm half tempted to drop the next city on the hill SE of where I have C8 marked. I'd then lock in those two Grass tiles as mine, keeping TW from using them and increasing my culture presence on those borders.

Current plan is to get that Iron mined (the workers will go there as soon as they finish that farm next turn) so that I can build some Swords. After Math, I need Sailing (to hook up those whales) and them I'm tempted to go for Construction (needing Masonry on the way) for Catapults to help in taking those two cities.

My scout is now trapped in that area between TW's borders, so he'll just hang out to see if the borders ever expand to push him out...preferably popping out in the north by Krill so I can re-explore up there. With any luck they will have some nice border tensions up there. If both Krill and I end up at war with TW, that could be good for me. Maybe.

[HitAnyKey]

Something tells me Grimace is not long for this world....


Gavagai does not declare war lightly....and that MASSIVE power looks like a big foot for stomping on someone.

On my end, I finally got down my next city which immediately gets to work the farmed Wheat. In 2 turns the next city will be settled down in the SE. This would make the last city between me and TheWannabe, and with Krill right up against him in the north....may mean he has nowhere to plant anymore cities. Which would mean his only way to expand would be via conflict. Right now both myself & Krill are ahead of him in Power. I'll be starting my Iron mine next turn, so once that is done will be able to have a couple cities start on Swords. Having a couple of those done (or at least near done) would put me at the ready in case Krill makes the first move in attacking TW. I could then hopefully go after those two new cities he planted next to me.
I even passed Tsargon in power, which I'm glad for. I saw one of his Immortals over by Gavagai, and I've been a bit concerned that he might show up on my doorstep with a stack of them. So I'm hoping whatever this power is of his, that he's sending it somewhere else.

In the meantime, Twisted Oak is building workers while it recovers from whip unhappy. One of the workers that just finished the Wheat Farm will move S to chop a forest into the Barracks I've started in the new city of Iron Horse. Same with most of the cities actually. In the rush to get out military to make sure TW wouldn't try anything, and then to push out these settlers quicker than I normally would have with some inefficient whips....got a bit of recovery to do. Luckily I have enough gold to still get Math in 2 turns, so can start efficiently chopping stuff out...like the much needed more workers.
Corison is finally getting to work on it's Forge, though I'll end up getting my next Great Prophet before the forge is completed. So I won't be able to pollute the pool with any Engineer points. I expect that I'll end up just holding onto the Prophet until I get my next great person. If I get another prophet, then I'll do something with it, but that'l be a ways off. So I suppose it'll just end up sleeping in the city. Unless of course I end up finding something to bulb. I'm not sure if it's worth settling him in a city. Do people even do that? I think I've almost never seen anyone with a settled prophet.

[GermanJoey]

In PB26, I had 10 settled GP in this city before the game was called, a few turns later:

[HitAnyKey]

Thanks Joey...though taking a quick glance at that thread of yours (I'm slowly reading through the whole thing) I see this was with the SMEG mod (which don't know any details about) which I'm assuming when you get a great person it actually gives you two of them? So there's more "extras" for settling in place rather than feeling the need to hold them for golden ages, etc. But in either case, this next prophet is going to come so early that I think settling it may end up being the best choice for me. It's still way too early to kick off a golden age, and the only tech I can bulb right away would be Poly...which would be stupid to bulb. And I have a couple other techs I want to research before I move on to that one (I don't remember which tech would be available after Poly for bulbing). So rather than just have the GP sitting around for many turns waiting to have something done with him, I think getting those extra hammers and gold would be best. I'll likely get another prophet as my next great person anyway.

Even though I commented that I'd probably stop doing so, I have still been tracking city times pretty closely. I've stopped recording the turns that anyone settles cities beyond their 10th one, but I am keeping a running count of city totals...subtracting from those that lose cities and adding to those that conquer cities. I'm pretty sure it's mostly accurate. If none of you lurkers have been tracking these and would like to see my count at any point, just let me know.

This turn Buddhism spread to Iron Horse, which makes me very happy. That'll start the culture going to help push against TW's newest city by the stone. A couple turns or so ago, it also spread to his new city of Thebes (he hasn't renamed it to one of his disease names yet) but luckily it spread late enough that my city of Turley will have it's border expansion first. Next turn my Moai city gets settled. It'll first build a Granary, and likely chop/whip a Barracks at some point, with all overflow hammers from both buildings going into the Moai. After which I'll need to slow build it the rest of the way by mining those hills.

Got Math this turn and now going for Sailing which will be done in 3-4 turns. Right now it shows 3t, but after I settle the next city my sim makes it probably take an extra turn. But since it's impossible for me to sim where I am at research due to KTBs, I won't know for sure until next turn when I settle the city. Wellington is finishing a Holkan this turn and will build a Work Boat in 2t after that for the whales.
Still trying to decide what I tech after Sailing.

[HitAnyKey]

So with a good amount happening this turn with cities, I figured I'd post my tracker again:



I've stopped recording turn numbers after the 10th city...taotao is up to 11 now. Commodore got his 10th this turn. And this turn Elkad settled THREE cities all on the same turn, plus there's the one he did 2 turns ago.
Gavagai took another city from Grimace this turn to make that a total of 3. This one was the capital of Airedale, leaving him now with only two cities. I assume he'll be eliminated shortly, especially with how quickly his capital fell. I'm sure his last two cities have even less defenses than that. This does not bode well for me, with Gavagai becoming a strong force over there. At least we have Tsargon between us for now, but I'm not looking forward to a war with Gavagai again.

[HitAnyKey]

Btw, mapmakers....couldn't you have at least separated those players whose colors are so similar? Myself and Tsargon have border colors that look almost identical...

[GermanJoey]

HAK, you're the one who picked your civ, not us... the choice we gave you was purely random.

[HitAnyKey]

HAK, you're the one who picked your civ, not us... the choice we gave you was purely random.

Yes I know I picked the civ. I guess it was just that I remembered in the beginning all sorts of talk about civ colors being changed upon request or for other reasons. I guess I was just kinda thinking it might have been nice for close colors to not have been put right next to each other. But I guess that could also give too much info away, if it were a known thing that was done before games start. Since then people would know which people are not right next to them just based on what color their civ is.